HS: The Organized Pantry

I’ve organized my pantry before and part of me was like… Do people really need to see my pantry again? It’s a chore that I (sadly) do once a year and I keep it up for the most part and then I FREAK OUT and want to bomb it when it gets out of control. You may be in the same boat too. Let’s discuss that! Things that race through my mind: Why didn’t I keep it clean? What part is the hardest to keep organized? What makes me drop the ball? I have noticed that the trigger for me to clean it out is always finding that I have repeats of pantry staples….and it’s because I’m not organized enough to know that I already have a jar of salsa in my pantry. I COULDN’T FREAKING SEE IT behind the chaos. The good news, is that every time I clean out my pantry, I come up with a new organizing scheme. I find that it’s best regroup and change your organizing habits to make way for new/better ideas. Let me show you!

First we start with the BEFORE. Ooof.

No styling. This is the real deal. Go ahead, snoop. I know you want to.

Totally not Pinterest worthy. THIS IS REAL LIFE, folks.

Top shelf view. Polenta is mixed with hot sauce, vinegar, oats, and RANDOMNESS.

Middle shelf view. Baking crap. Oh. I just bought that malted milk for a recipe and had no place to put it.

Niiiiiice.

Bottom view. THIS AREA IS THE WORST.

There’s a lot of crap that needs to be organized…

The last time I organized my pantry, I labeled sections. That was cool until I didn’t have enough room for each section and the labels then came off. BUH-BYE labels. I liked the idea of you but you’re unrealistic.

That one time I spilled all the cornstarch… let’s remove the evidence.

And The GREAT Cocoa Powder Explosion of 2014 too!

So the first thing I do is take everything out shelf by shelf. I clean the shelves with soapy water and I remove any food gunk from lids & jars. It’s time consuming, but if you’re gonna do it, DO IT RIGHT.

I have a hot sauce problem…and it takes up a lot of space. It’s also really hard for me to see where a specific hot sauce is so I decided to do something about it.

I put all of the hot sauces in a plastic bin. The bin is labeled. Of course it’s labeled.

I like to move things around in the process. I decided to change what goes on some of the shelves. That’s what I like about a project like this. It will force you to revaluate how you use the space. Over time some of your organizing systems don’t last and it’s great to regroup and problem solve!

This is the part in the process where I always want to scream. I want to scream because I just want it to be done with and I’m sad that my disorganization caused me to waste food. IT IS SO FRUSTRATING. But I carry on…

I did this earlier in the year! There was a great sale on airtight containers, so I loaded up and never looked back! This of course does not stop me forgetting it’s all purpose flour I’m out of and definitely NOT self raising! haha

OMG! This looks awesome. Unfortunately mine looks like your BEFORE photos and I’d love to fix that soon. I always run out of space, end up cramming stuff in, and then discover duplicates or missing staples when I need them. You’re totally right though, I hit the panic button all of the sudden and need to fix it stat. Your finished pantry is pinterest worthy!

All it took for me was my washer and dryer were pulled out (they live in my kitchy) to be repaired. For all that repair loot, never put back properly and a MOUSE got into my pantry/kitchen. Went RIGHT to the Container store and ALL my pantry items (not canned goods) live in really pretty containers! We finally figured out the mouse problem and now (3 years later) all is fixed and the pantry is pretty and best of all no more RODENTS! ( I nearly threw a FOR SALE sign in the front yard after seeing the wrath of the 1 little mouse!). Your pantry looks devine. PS I didn’t know hot sauce after being opened doesn’t have to go in the fridge.

We, sadly, don’t even have a pantry anymore! Though it was amusing when we moved to NYC last fall and discovered stuff that expired 3 years before, yet had somehow managed to get packed and shipped across the country… Oops.
Way to go!

Buckwheat groats are another name for “kasha,” which means, really, any type of cooked grain (Eastern European slang?) But the kasha my grandmother made had chicken stock, diced carrots and onions, salt, pepper and very small pasta shells. It was fragrant and meant the sabbath was coming. I still love kasha! Here is a very close recipe. I have never used bow ties, but use whatever small pasta you like. You can also just prepare it simply like rice, but use broth not water. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Kasha-Varnishkes-at-Wolffs-in-New-Jersey-40010

Well. I think I know what I’m doing this weekend. My parents pantry drives me crazy! We’re all trying to eat better, and I think knowing exactly what’s in your pantry is a big part of that. Thanks, Tracy! <3

I completely know the AHHHHHH feeling in the middle, where you want to walk away and hope it magically organizes itself. It’s how I feel in the middle of every cleaning or reorganizing project. Oof.

I found a lot of duplicate items and had A LOT of excess stuff when I moved in with my husband last summer. He wanted to throw out anything that didn’t fit. I begged to let me consolidate and work through as much as possible. I’m not done yet…but now it all fits into the pantry, plus a rouge box for large bottles of juice. Talk about constant reorganizing and frustration (for both of us)!

Love the new pantry look and organization. I’m especially loving the jars, the labels (woo washi + sharpie!), and the plastic bins to wrangle similar items.

I hope to do spices one day! They are all a mish-mash of different brands and I contemplate putting them into the same kind of jar…but then again I’m not sure I would be able to spot exactly what I need when I need it. The way the jar is makes the spice stick out to me. So weird!

I bow down to you, Tracy, oh Goddess of Straightenance
I wish our pantry could look like that, and my usually not-so-tidy boyfriend is great at organising it and takes great glee in doing so, but unfortunately we are saddled with the tiniest (and I mean tiniest) 1930s pre-war house with a similarly scaled pantry with Grandma’s stuff still in it (we are just house minding).
However, next year when we move into our new townhouse I will have complete control over our kitchen! I can’t wait to label and box and make it Shutterbean perfect! Thanks for this in advance!

I am in awe of ur pantry!! I so wish (and will try) to organize mine. U inspire me to get it done! Thankyou. (I showed my husband and said isnt it beautiful!? And hos response was “are those sweet potatoes in a dog bowl? Smh….men dont get it. Haha.

My dog is now 10-years-old and has become incredibly picky with his food, causing us to rotate between several bags at a time. Cramping the pantry space. I should put them into mason jars, but I’m slightly afraid they’ll look too delicious to me…

Nice job! I LOVE canning jars to store things in the pantry. If you have an over abundance of flours and grains you can always Oven Can them or use a Vacuum Sealer to create an airtight seal. I’m going to start stacking my broth and stock boxes like you did, great idea. Have you ever thought about using a Lazy Susan for the hot sauces?

I love the idea of putting all your baking stuff in a plastic bin. I don’t know why, but I get irritated taking out the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and vanilla one at a time. You totally just rocked my world.

We are redoing our kitchen and evaluating our current pantry. To really do this I need to organize. I have been putting it off for the last few months. Now that is it nice out I have no ambition. This makes me want to start right away and put it off a while longer all at the same time. I love the end result but ARG to there…

Ahhhh! ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT to put the pasta cooking time on the top of the jar/container. I usually end up with my pasta in jars but then it’s a crap shoot with the cooking time and I really have to watch the pasta cook. Thanks!

The idea of labeling things is a great one. I know everything in my kitchen, but when my mother-in-law comes, she always get lost in there. So I will implement your idea in my pantry. Actually, there is no need of expensive, special jars for that purpose, a normal one will do the same job. Just will add a label. Thanks again.

We’re getting ready to remodel our kitchen and for the first time EVER I’m going to have a pantry. Seeing yours all nice and organized makes me so, SO excited for it. Except I’m a total slob so – chances are – it’ll look more like the ‘before’ photos, most of the time.

What a find! Jumped over from Joy the Baker…I needed this info so-oo much! Got the jars, got the on-sale airtight containers, got the plastic pull-out bins…but just knowing where and on what shelf to place them…I was at a loss.You have inspired me to “git-er-done”!

[…] before I commit to opening another box. I need Tracy to come help me know what goes where (See: Shuterbean’s Pantry Organization). I need NEED to find at least one of my three wine openers. Good […]